Shocking Video Shows Seas Run Red With Blood As Dolphins Slaughtered On Faroe Islands

Horrifying footage has captured seas running red with blood as countless dolphins are slaughtered in the Faroe Islands.

The video depicts the mammals squirming for their lives along the shoreline as the sea becomes a blood-bath. Pictures - which we chose not to publish - also show piles of dolphins on the shoreline left with gaping wounds in the back of their heads.

Sea Shepherd Global

The killings were part of a local ritual dating back to the 16th century called grindadráp, whereby the highly-intelligent creatures are driven towards the shallow waters where fishermen plunge metal hooks into their blow holes before severing their spines.

Just weeks previously, more than 180 whales were killed as part of the same ritual on the islands.

According to conservation society Sea Shepherd, which recorded the harrowing footage in the village of Hvalvik as part of their campaign 'Operation Bloody Fjords', 190 Atlantic white sided dolphins were killed in the most recent hunt - which was the 11th of the year.

The society claims that in the last 50 years the Faroese have killed more than 62,000 pilot whales and dolphins. During 2017, the society claims 1,691 dolphins and whales were killed across 24 grindadráp hunts in the Faroe Islands. So far in 2018, Sea Shepherd say 561 pilot whales and 255 Atlantic white sided dolphins have been killed in the islands.

Sea Shepherd Global

Animal activist group PETA graphically portrayed the suffering of the animals in a statement: "Metal hooks are driven into the stranded mammals' blowholes before their spines are cut.

"The animals slowly bleed to death. Whole families are slaughtered, and some whales swim around in their family members' blood for hours.

"Whales and dolphins are highly intelligent creatures and feel pain and fear every bit as much as we do."

For most people who understand the playful and inquisitive nature of these animals, the footage makes for difficult viewing. However, authorities appear to have no intention of clamping down on the bloody ritual.

A government spokesman for the Danish protectorate has previously defended the act, telling Mirror Online: "The use of locally available wildlife is a natural part of life in the Faroe Islands.

"The pilot whale hunt is dramatic and bloody by its nature. Entire pods of whales are killed on shores and in shallow bays at open sight.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

"Naturally, this results in a lot of blood in the water.

"The government of the Faroe Islands states that it is the right of the Faroese people to use its natural resources.

"The pilot whale hunt is regulated and sustainable, and a natural part of Faroe Island life."

Topics: dolphin

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey